Abstract
The recent emergence in Europe of invasive mosquitoes and mosquito-borne disease associated with both invasive and native mosquito species has prompted intensified mosquito vector research in most European countries. Central to the efforts are mosquito monitoring and surveillance activities in order to assess the current species occurrence, distribution and, when possible, abundance, in order to permit the early detection of invasive species and the spread of competent vectors. As active mosquito collection, e.g. by trapping adults, dipping preimaginal developmental stages or ovitrapping, is usually cost-, time- and labour-intensive and can cover only small parts of a country, passive data collection approaches are gradually being integrated into monitoring programmes. Thus, scientists in several EU member states have recently initiated programmes for mosquito data collection and analysis that make use of sources other than targeted mosquito collection. While some of them extract mosquito distribution data from zoological databases established in other contexts, community-based approaches built upon the recognition, reporting, collection and submission of mosquito specimens by citizens are becoming more and more popular and increasingly support scientific research. Based on such reports and submissions, new populations, extended or new distribution areas and temporal activity patterns of invasive and native mosquito species were found. In all cases, extensive media work and communication with the participating individuals or groups was fundamental for success. The presented projects demonstrate that passive approaches are powerful tools to survey the mosquito fauna in order to supplement active mosquito surveillance strategies and render them more focused. Their ability to continuously produce biological data permits the early recognition of changes in the mosquito fauna that may have an impact on biting nuisance and the risk of pathogen transmission associated with mosquitoes. International coordination to explore synergies and increase efficiency of passive surveillance programmes across borders needs to be established.
Highlights
During the past few years, Europe has become increasingly affected by invasive mosquitoes and mosquito-borne disease cases/outbreaks [1,2]
Passive surveillance may function as a background alert system for triggering active surveillance when necessary and may design more cost-intensive active surveillance activities in a focused way
While active surveillance is increasingly being standardized on a European level [61,64], there is no international coordination in passive surveillance so far, passive surveillance per se has lately been promoted by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) [64]
Summary
During the past few years, Europe has become increasingly affected by invasive mosquitoes and mosquito-borne disease cases/outbreaks [1,2]. The positive performance of the “Muggenradar” can probably be attributed to several aspects: (i) clear packaging and posting instructions supported by pictures on the website were provided, ensuring that the mosquito specimens arrived in a relatively good state for morphological and genetic identification; (ii) postage costs were covered (envelopes could be sent to a response number that ensures payment by the receiver), thereby lowering the threshold to submit mosquitoes, and (iii) completing the questionnaire would take only a few minutes as the requested information was strictly limited to what was considered essential. Data is being validated using novel techniques such as crowd-crafting tasks for pictures, and Figure 4 Comparison of adult tiger mosquito sightings reported by participants during the Spanish “AtrapaelTigre.com” pilot project and demonstrated presence of Ae. albopictus in Catalonia at county scale (as obtained from mosquito control services and public administration personal communication). A roadmap for the presentation of “MosquitoWEB” to the community will be implemented with municipal authorities targeting civic sectors related to education, health and tourism
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